TDS wins Diversity Advocate Award

Diversity and Inclusion has gained both support and momentum across the TDS organization in the last couple of years—and we have a new award to prove it. The latest is TDS Telecom winning the Diversity Advocate Award by the Wisconsin Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). This comes the same year that TDS Inc. was named to Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Diversity.

In Diversity and Inclusion work, it’s as important as ever to get an outsider’s perspective. With that, take a moment to read what the Wisconsin Chapter of SHRM had to say about the great work being done at TDS.

The Wisconsin Council recently announced TDS Telecom of Madison, a company of 3,400 employees, as the recipient of their 2018 Diversity Advocate Award. TDS was presented their award on October 12 during the recent Wisconsin SHRM State Conference held at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The award was accepted by Patrick Yates manager of Diversity and Inclusion and Kathy Cefalu, vice president and Chief Human Resource Officer.

The award is given annually to an organization that has been a role model within their local community as a strong organization advocate for diversity, inclusion and workplace flexibility.

TDS demonstrated the seriousness of advancing their diversity efforts by appointing a full-time Manager of Diversity and Inclusion, Patrick Yates.

TDS has also demonstrated their commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion within their community. Rather than offering monetary resources to a non-profit organization, a contribution of people resources was lent to the Nehemiah Community Development Corporation’s Justified Anger Initiative. TDS allowed 60% of an employee’s time to address racial disparities for a year, spending three days a week within the Madison community. They also allow every employee 16 hours to volunteer their time at other approved community organizations.

The Wisconsin State Council SHRM is proud to recognize TDS Telecom for its work in displaying the ideals of which the award represents in diversity, inclusion and workplace flexibility.

About Mike Wanta

Mike works on the Corporate Communications team at TDS and is the manager of the TDS Business Blog. He has a passion for all things business, storytelling, and teaching. Mike attended Edgewood College and earned degrees in English Literature and Journalism, while competing on the Men’s tennis team. He recently completed his Masters in Sustainability and Business. With his newfound free time, he plays music, tennis, and reads (a lot).

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About TDS Business

TDS Telecom. is the 7th largest telecom provider in the U.S., and our parent company is Telephone and Data Systems Inc. Of course, we have a few cool sister companies too, like U.S. Cellular and OneNeck® IT Solutions. Bottom-line: At TDS it’s our job to connect people at home and at work. We connect people nationwide, in rural communities and metro areas alike. We connect people running big businesses, start-ups, and even at- home teleworkers with Internet, phone, data, and TV services.